Hold Me All Together
by TheCivilState
Summary: Even the strongest need someone to lean on.


_Hello world, hope you're listening_ _Forgive me if I'm young_

He stood outside her house as it rained. There were few lights on and the car normally parked in the driveway was gone, but he could hear the sounds of someone cooking in the kitchen.

The rain felt good against his skin as it soaked into his suit. He hadn't bothered to change after Violet's funeral and he imagined if he stood in the rain long enough, it would eventually wash the suit right off his body. Then he could forget. Then his feet would be able to carry him out of the past and into the present.

Those same feet carried him to the door. He didn't have the strength to knock, so he rested his head against the smooth wood and prayed some supernatural force would alert Elena to his presence. He didn't have to wait long. _There's someone I've been missing_ _I think that they could be, the better half of me_

"Elijah." His name fell from her lips like a prayer, like a sigh of happiness. He hoped he made her happy.

"Come in," she said, and without waiting for him to react, she hooked her hair around the damp cuff of his sleeve and pulled him inside, shutting the door behind them. He followed her- _wherever she went he would follow- _and his body pinned hers against the door as he fell against her. He was unbearably tired. Her arms came up to wrap around his shoulders, one hand brushing his wet hair from his forehead.

"You're soaking wet," she said, "We need to get you out of these clothes." He shook his head because he found he didn't have the strength for words. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this exhausted. So instead of forcing himself to speak when words would not come, he dropped his head to the curve of his neck and allowed her heartbeat, calm and steady, to thrum in his ears. Her hand rubbed the back of his neck and he nuzzled his head against her exposed neck, listening, _feeling _her heartbeat jump at the action. The wetness of his clothes was beginning to dampen hers where their bodies touched- _which was everywhere. They couldn't get close enough. _He had the thought she might catch a cold if she was forced to endure the close proximity of his wet body, but he could not find the strength to pull away.

"Come with me," she whispered and hooked his arm around her shoulders as she led him slowly, steadily up the stairs. He followed because he had no choice. Where she went, he would follow. He leaned on her for support because in this moment, it was the Original who was the weakest of the two. So long as she was there to support him, he did not mind being weak.

_I get lost in the beauty of everything I see_ _The world ain't as half as bad, as they paint it to be_

They stood together under the hot spray of the shower, his mind focused solely on the sensation of her hands doing their very best to wash away the memories of the day. His eyes tracked her movements, following her hands as they rubbed his shoulders and rinsed his hair. He followed the curve of her body and committed it all to memory, his hand occasionally gathering enough strength to trace the curve of her hip before falling limply to his side. He felt utterly useless, but Elena did not seem to mind, merely pressing a kiss to his chest when his hand fell away from her.

"You're beautiful," she said suddenly, staring up at him with fathomless eyes he wanted to drown in. Anything to escape the pain that was strangling his heart.

In all his years on earth, no one had ever called him beautiful. Certainly not the epitome of beauty herself. He tried to move his head, to raise his hand, but his body would not cooperate. It was as though he had forgotten the most basic of movements. But she understood, the way she always understood and it was one of the few phenomenons in life he did not question.

She pressed her lips to his, _once, twice, three times _before resting her head on his chest. He wanted to raise his hand and trace the curve of his back, but he couldn't. So he stood there and let her kiss his chest and promised himself to repay her kindness one day.

_Well maybe I'm just dreaming out loud_

"Sleep," she encouraged him as he lay stretched out on her bed dressed in bed clothes that had belonged to her brother. _Jer always forgets stuff when he packs, _ she had said before helping him into the blue flannel pants and gray shirt. His body had been unable to react as she dressed him, her hands ghosting over his skin in the softest caress. But there was no outward physical reaction on his part at the sensation of her touch and he so desperately wished his heart could beat so when she rested her head against his chest she could at least _hear _the effect she had on him.

"Sleep," she commanded, running her fingers over his eyelids in an attempt to encourage him. But he found he could not tear his eyes from her for fear he would awake in the morning and she would be gone. Finn's lover had been torn from him suddenly as had Kol's. Why should Fate spare Elijah? Why should he be exempt from such cruelty.

"Please," she said, "You look so tired, I'm afraid you're going to die on me." He tried to smile, to ease her worries, but not gestures were possible. He was essentially a useless sack of bones. There was nothing for her here. He could give her nothing.

Her hand slid up his chest and her fingers traced his collarbone as she settled her head on his chest. Her ear rested above where his heart would beat and he imagined she was listening for it. He hummed. It was the only thing he found he could do, so he began to hum a song he had heard as a child just so Elena would know he was responsive to her efforts. That he was not dying in her arms.

Elena's eyes lit up and she smiled at him, dropping her head back on his chest and listening to him hum. Her fingers tapped his collarbone in time and that only encouraged him to hum more livelier tunes. When he faltered, she laughed and the action send vibrations of her own dancing throughout his body. They made his heart tingle and for a moment, he could imagine it beating. When Elena's face softened and she kissed his chest, just above where his heart was, he imagined she had heard it too.

_Everything I can't be is everything you should be_ _And that's why I need you here_

Elijah woke in a bed not his own and yet the familiarity of the pillows and the sheets made it feel like home. A hand was running through his hair and he awoke to find Elena reading at his side, one hand idyly stroking his hair as the other turned the pages of the book propped on her knees. She felt his head shift and turned to him, smiling when she saw his eyes were brighter today than they had been last night. She liked to think she had something to do with that.

"Good morning," she said, discarding the book and sliding down in the bed so she was at eye level with him.

"Good morning," he said, and felt her breath fan across his face as she sighed in relief. His hand rose and stroked her hair and he watched her sink into the sensation. Elena was tired, same as him and he was going to repay her for last night.

"I'm sorry," he said, but she quickly shushed him with a hand to his mouth.

"Don't apologize," she said, "You did nothing wrong." His hand stilled and she slid closer until she could tuck her head under his chin.

"I was scared," she whispered, "I thought I was going to lose you."

"Would that be so bad?" She propped her chin up on his chest and he watched her eyes water as her mouth quivered. He regretted his words instantly and wished there was someway to take them back.

"How can you say such a thing?" She pushed away from him and sat up, pulling her knees to her chest and dropping her head. He traced a finger along her spine, watching her body react to his touch, but she refused to face him. He pushed up to sit beside her and dropped a kiss to her shoulder. That's when he caught the sent of salt and brushed her hair away from her face. She was crying.

"You're not cruel, Elijah," she said, "You're not cruel and you're not a fool. _Would that be so bad? _How could you ask me such a thing? Of course it would be bad. It would be terrible to live without you!"

"But why?" he asked and that there was the root of everything. _Why? _Why did she care? Why would she welcome him into her home and comfort him while he mourned? Why would she hold him and kiss him and tell him to sleep? Why?

"Why?" she said in disbelief, "Why? Elijah, I love you." She kissed him to seal her promise and he pulled her close, pushing her back onto the bed and kissing her with as much fervor. It was as though she was trying to breathe the life back into him. If anyone could, it would be her.

"Say it again," he pleaded, pulling away and resting his forehead against hers, "Please, say it again."

"I love you," she said, kissing him. And then, "I'll never leave you." _I've been waiting for you_ _For so long_ _For so long_

"Please don't burn down my kitchen," she begged as they endeavored to make breakfast.

"I'm an excellent chef," came his retort, but he his concentration was broken when she slipped her arms around his waist and dropped a kiss to his shoulder. The concoction in the pan he promised would turn into a delicious creation suddenly caught fire at Elena jumped backwards as Elijah quickly dealt with the impromptu firework show.

"Excellent chef," she said, "Right." He lunged for her and to her credit she tried to dodge him, but he caught her around the waist with no effort and hoisted her into the air as she screamed with laughter. He settled her onto the kitchen counter and not a breath passed between them before her legs were hitched around his hips and his fingers were tracing her ribcage beneath her shirt. Her mouth fell open with a breathy sigh as he nipped at her neck, her hands tangling in his hair and drawing him closer. He ground his hips into hers and she moaned, her hair falling about his shoulders as her head dropped forward.

"I love you," he whispered into her flesh and she sighed in his ear, drawing his head back enough so she could kiss him. She slid off the counter and his arms supported her as her legs tightened around his hips. Her hand slipped beneath the collar of his shirt and her nails scraped along the skin at the nape of his neck.

"I think we can forget about breakfast," she teased against his lips. Her bit down on his lower lip and he stumbled backwards as she rolled her hips against his. They were upstairs before she could draw another breathe.

_All I see is you and me_ _The fight for you is all I've ever known_

The sun shone through the window warm and bright, dancing over the skin of the couple lounging in bed. Elena's head rested on Elijah's chest and he traced the veins in her arm. She stretched like a cat in the sunshine and leaned up to kiss him, enjoying the feel of his arm as it came to rest around her bare waist.

"I would like to repay you for your kindness last night," he said and she laughed against his mouth, straddling his waist and splaying her fingers across his chest.

"I think you more than repaid me," she teased, grinding her hips against his, "But if you're not sure…" He growled against her neck and rolled her under him, her leg hitching around his hip as he nipped at the skin behind her ear. He was rewarded with a breathy little sigh and squirm as he trailed a finger down the middle of her body.

"You could stay," she whispered into his shoulder and he turned her head to face him. Her eyes seemed unsure and she bit her bottom lip, her hands dropping from his shoulders.

"Are you sure?" he asked. She stared at him for a moment, taking in the faint laugh lines around his mouth and the wrinkles in his brow. She wondered what worried him, what made him laugh. She wondered if she could make him happy.

She pulled him down, their bodies flush against each other and kissed him soundly. He responded in kind, pressing his hips into her and smoothing his thumb over her hipbone. She sighed into his mouth.

"Yes." _Come home_

**a/n: **awwwwww… I don't own them. If I did, this would totally happen on the show. Yep.

Fave, flame, faint.

_[song fic inspired by "Come Home" by OneRepublic.]_

_oxox_


End file.
